Things Don't Always Go As You Planned TR 12/11 - 12/18/11 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Lunch looked delicious, glad you weren't terribly late for your ADR. Looking forward to hearing about Fantasmic, I hope the rain doesn't put a damper on your evening!
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Glad you weren't too late for you ADR at MM!!! The food looked yummy!! We enjoyed it as well when we ate there in 2010.
Thanks, it turned out to be not as bad as I had thought and we had a long wait anyway. The food was very good, we will definitely be back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great start to your vacation - and I hear you about being late. I had a feeling I knew what would happen when the kids hit the pool, but at least you weren't too late for your ADR.
Thanks, I get that from my Mom but unfortunately the rest of my family never show up on time. I knew I was taking a change letting them swim but it all worked out in the end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you made it to MM! Looks like a great lunch! More please!
Thanks, it was well worth it to get to MM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tinkerbell24601
Great TR! Can't wait to read more!
Thank you, I'm working on some more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
What a great dinner! Hope the rain didn't ruin the show.
let's just say the rain was a major game changer for our trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrDolphin
Sounds like a great lunch at MM!!!
we had a great experience at MM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluejn
more please
Coming up soon
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Glad the kids enjoyed a little pool time before your ADR. Dinner at Mama Melrose looks delicious, especially those desserts
The boys actually got a lot of pool time that week, more than any other previous trips. I am still thinking about that dessert .
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawn in Scotland
Loving your trip report - you add just the right amount of detail - and gorgeous food photo's!
Awe thanks Dawn, I am glad you are enjoying it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Glad the flight was uneventful, except for some broken TV's (just flew Jet Blue home last week and the whole plane was out...I never realized how much I missed the white noise of the TV on low during the flight).
I am really surprised about the escort in MCO - I would really think they have more than one person to handle this...glad you all were able to still make it down to the DME ok. Glad to hear your rooms were ready....I love when you can get in and settled early on, just makes everything else seem to fall into place.
Lunch sounded delicious...we have yet to make it to MM but it is on our list for a future trip, I have heard such great things about the meals there.
I love Jet Blue but I really think that they need a major overhaul of their planes and training of the staff at MCO. I highly suggest MM it was a great experience.
Lunch looked delicious, glad you weren't terribly late for your ADR. Looking forward to hearing about Fantasmic, I hope the rain doesn't put a damper on your evening!
MM was one of the best meals that I had all week, more to come about Fantasmic and that darn rain.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad you made it to MM and even enjoyed a very delicious meal!
Yes it was very good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wdwlovers
Sounds like you are off to a decent start to your trip, even with a couple bumps along the way. That dessert looks delicious!!
So far so good, bumps are to be expected nothing really ever goes smoothly. Oh that dessert I wish I could of found it some else on property, it was that good.
Now that dinner was done and we got our passes for Fantasmic, we were able to slow down and relax a bit. My Mom needed to get a GAC so we made our way back up to the front of the park to guest services. My Mom was a little worried about getting a card because her disability isn’t apparent (she had a bad hip and I am happy to report that she had full hip replacement surgery on 1/10 and is recovering beautifully ) so she brought a note from her doctor just in case but the CM said that wouldn’t be necessary, filled out the card and handed to my Mom. My Mom was very relieved to get the card because there was no way that she would have been able to stand on any line for a long period of time, she needed to be in the scooter.
The sky at this point was starting to get a little dark and the clouds were rolling in, which made me worry about Fantasmic being cancelled tonight.
The dark sky and the cowds
Since it looked like it was going to rain we headed into AI, all the singers were good but one really stood out, so that’s the one we all voted for and sure enough she won. When we exited AI the rain had moved in so we decided to hop on the GMR. Even though it was raining and other people had the same idea, the posted wait time was only about 15 minutes. So soon we were on our ride thru the movies.
When we came out of the GMR it was raining a little harder and of course we had no umbrellas or ponchos, I left them at the resort even though I knew there might be rain . So we contemplated on what to do next, leave or stick it out. We decided to stay and try our luck at TSMM, hoping that the wait would not be too bad . Of course I should of known better, standby was 80 minutes . It was about 5:30 and we were supposed to be on line for Fantasmic by 6:30 and even with my Mom’s GAC I wondered if we could ride it and be on time. It was raining pretty steady by then and I and thought for sure it might be canceled anyway, so we were directed to the FP entrance and started to wait. Meanwhile, I called guest services, while we were waiting, to find out about the status of Fantasmic and was told that they only find out about 15 minutes before the show starts if it will be canceled, so we decided to stay at TSMM and take out chances with Fantasmic.
TSMM is one of our favorite rides at DHS but boy does my arm get a cramp when shooting. Christopher and I rode together and I tried really hard to be a good Mom and deliberately miss a lot of stuff but somehow I still beat him.
The Franks
Mine and Christopher's scores, I really did try to lose, I swear.
By the time we were done riding TSMM it was about 6:30 and slightly drizzling, I called one more time and was told that the show will go on, so we made our way over to the theatre. Since this was our first time seeing the show we got a little confused about where to go but found our way and started the trek up to the theatre. Wow is that theatre set way back and what a walk it is to get back there, no wonder why we have never seen it because I never knew it existed. We finally made it inside and to our very wet seats with about 5 minutes to spare. The rain had let up, for the moment anyway.
OK here is where it goes downhill. The show started and we were really enjoying it, absolutely amazing. About 10 minutes after the show started the rain kicked in and boy did it come down, now remember we had no umbrellas or ponchos so we were getting extremely soaked. Now there is one thing that I cannot stand about being wet and that is wearing jeans, especially when they get so wet that they weigh more than you and that’s exactly what was starting to happen. It was raining so hard, I really don’t know how the show was still going on and people were leaving. My Husband, Mom and I all looked at each other and made the executive decision to leave and very disappointed. I tried to take some pictures but they really didn’t come out but here is one that you can see the rain on my lens.
We made our way to the bus stop and luckily one was waiting for us and we were able to get right on. Before we knew it we had arrived back at the Poly and I couldn’t wait to get to the room and get those wet clothes off, I think I practically ran. After we dried off and changed clothes, it was about 8:30, we decided to head over to Captain Cooks for some dinner. DH and I had bacon cheeseburgers, Mom and Justin had burgers, Frankie had a grilled cheese and Chris had chicken nuggets. Sorry no pictures forgot my camera in the room. At this point it was almost ten o’clock and we had been up since 3am the adults were pretty much done for the day but the boys surprisingly still had some energy left, except for Chris who passed out at the table, so Frankie and Justin headed to the arcade to play some games. The rest of us went back to the room, I tucked Chris into bed, DH fell asleep and when Frankie came back he was pretty much out within 10 minutes. As everyone slept, I made my notes for the day and then turned in about midnight.
Travel day is always a long day and I really didn’t want to pack too much into it once we got to Disney. Original plan was to relax at the Poly and enjoy EMH at DHS at night. However, when Fantasmic was thrown into the mix, plans were changed and the weather didn’t cooperate, that day turned out to be a dud.
We decided that we really wanted to see Fantasmic all the way thru, so I needed to figure out when to fit it in again because the only day I was planning on going back to DHS was a night when Fantasmic wasn’t playing. Time to make changes and go with the flow.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
So sorry about the rain during Fantasmic! I've been that wet and it really is no fun.
Thanks Cheryl, it was awful being that wet, and all because I didn't bring the ponchos knowing full well that rain was in the forecast.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Sorry about the rain, but it sounds like you had a fantastic lunch before hand!
Yes rain very bad but lunch was awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Sorry about the rain and Fantasmic!
That's Florida weather, a major game changer in your plans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Sorry about the rain ruining your viewing of Fantasmic!
Thanks, it was a major bummer because we were really enjoying it, that's why I was determine to try and fit it in again even if it meant moving things around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Sorry about the rain, especially as it fouled up Fantasmic!
Thanks, we will get to see it again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bsblady01
more please
Thanks, we have a snow storm here today so its a perfect day to work on my TR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoJayMom
So sorry about the rain!!
Thanks, it really was a let down to have to leave the show.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.